You are John in The Yellow Wallpaper. Your lease on the house will expire in three weeks' time and your wife has asked you to take her away. Write your thoughts.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2010). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [25] Candidates will have to decide whether they think that John is acting in his wife's best interests or whether he is to some degree responsible for her state of mind.
2. [25] The story is written from her point of view, so we only have what he says reported to us and must put our own construction on it.
3. [25] His tone always appears to be gentle and loving, so presumably he will be devastated by his wife's growing paranoia, though there may well be some exasperation attached to it.
4. [25] There is some suggestion that he sometimes loses patience ('He says no one but myself can help me out of it, that I must use my will and self-control and not let my silly fancies run away with me').
5. [25] As always, the quality of the answer will be determined by the extent to which the candidate engages with the character and creates a suitable voice.
6. [25] Refer to the band descriptors in arriving at your mark.